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Delta Fay kom Skaikru, daughter of Heda Clarke and Heda Bellamy, niece of Octavia kom Skaikru, granddaughter of Heda Abby kom Ark, child of water. She had hair that was like a river, flowing and bright, and eyes like the ocean on a sunny day. She was like a doll (though she preferred fairy) and held everyones hearts in her hands. She was always floating around, tucking herself under arms or scrambling up peoples backs. She was an artist, and she wanted to paint the world.
Delta was born when Juno and Gaia were seven, and Azar was five. Her birth was an event, she is told, she came too fast and something in her mom’s body didn’t agree with that. Her Nana Abby had to fix mom’s tummy, and now she has a scar. Her mom says that she wanted to make her own schedule and came as fast as a river. She was the youngest and was simultaneously protected and given freedom. Her parents trusted her alone, knew she could take care of herself in the forest, but didn’t trust her around fires (mostly because she would try to grab charcoal from the fire, disregarding the heat). She let Juno mother her because she knew that Juno needed something to take care of. She sprinkled flower petals on Gaia’s bed when she was stressed. She put magic on Azar’s patients so she didn’t have to worry on them. She made enough drawings for her parents that they filled an entire book.
Delta loved drawing people. She focused on the small wrinkles on Auntie O’s face, tracing the map of years. She sketched Monty’s face, spending hours on his eyes and smile trying to get the drawing to show the kindness he exuded in person. She drew Azar while she was stitching a leg, Juno while she was making a solar panel, and Gaia at a meeting. She immortalized her father gazing at her mom, and her mom smiling while her dad told a story.
Her Uncle Lincoln taught her how to draw, spending hours patiently explaining the intricacies of portraiture.
She saw everything. She was a fairy, after all. She saw Gaia kissing Raven and Wick’s daughter behind the kitchen. She saw her Auntie O tell her mom she was pregnant.
She was in the room when her cousin was born. She asked Auntie O if she could be there, and Auntie O said yes. She dabbed Auntie O’s forehead with cooling water and hummed little songs to try and calm her down.
She was Azar’s favorite. Her sister was only older by 2 years, and Delta was tall for her age. They balanced each other, fire and water, in the same way Juno and Gaia were the sky and the earth. They got rid of the beds entirely in their room, opting for mattresses pushed to the corner of the room, using the rest of the space to keep art materials and old medical books. In the winter they’d pile furs on the bed, cocooning themselves together (Juno and Gaia would occasionally join when it got especially cold) and in the summer they’d just use a soft sheet (though in the summer they preferred to sleep outside under the stars). Azar knew Delta better than anyone else because while Delta knew about everyone else, she preferred to keep her own secrets wrapped up.
When she was 13 she became used to men looking at her. Not from Skaikru, they knew who her parents were and there was a strict policy in place about sexual/domestic violence (banishment after a trial), but visiting Grounders would leer. She knew she was beautiful, and she looked older than she actually was but it made her uncomfortable. She’d hide in Uncle Lincoln’s arms, and would ride on his back around TonDC, even though she was much too old.
At a festival she was playing with Orion, Auntie O and Uncle Lincoln’s three year old, when a man clearly drunk on thistle wine approached her. He smiled at her, teeth glinting predatorily in the setting sun. Delta immediately swung Orion onto her hip, angling her body away from the man. He stumbled towards her, hands reaching and grabbing at her clothes. One grabbed her bum and she immediately shot out her leg in a kick, powerful enough to send him backwards. He growled a curse at her and she yelled, calling for someone, anyone from her family. Auntie O came running up, Indra following closely behind. Indra took one look at the situation and immediately called for her guard to take the man away.
Uncle Lincoln herded her and Orion away, bringing them to the outskirts of the festival. Her parents found them and she was swept into her mother’s embrace, shaking slightly.
“Why did he have to do that? Why? Why did he want to touch me?”
“Del, I don’t know. I wish I did.” Her dad kissed the side of her head.
“Solid kick you got in there.” Auntie O ruffled her hair, smiling slightly, “But we should work some more on self defense.”
“NO! I don’t want to work on self defense! I don’t want to work on any of this! I just want to live away from everyone!” She wrenched herself from her mothers embrace.
“Della, I don’t know why that man did that. But I do know who you are, and why you’re a part of our family. Maybe you’re here to make the rest of us better.”
Maybe she was. Maybe Gaia needed her holding her hand while she told their parents she was dating a girl (it was then that mom told them about Lexa). Maybe Juno needed her to go on adventures in the forest. Maybe Azar needed her to remember to calm down, to breathe, to let the fire cool down every once in a while.